


Absolutely Cat-astrophic

by HaruHara16



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Animal Transformation, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 01:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20648726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaruHara16/pseuds/HaruHara16
Summary: Adrien has litter-ally become Cat Noir and seeking help is, un-fur-tunately, more difficult than he expected.So what will our favorite feline do in this ap-paw-ling situation?





	Absolutely Cat-astrophic

**Author's Note:**

> The lack of Adrigami content disturbs me, so here is my trash.

Adrien blinks, his head still in a daze. But when he finally reorients himself, everything suddenly appears… bigger. The buildings tower over his head at an alarming height. Or perhaps, he’s the one that has gotten smaller. But trying to stand upright all the way didn’t feel exactly normal either. Apparently, his size isn’t the only thing that has changed.

Instead of hands, he now has paws; four fuzzy black paws. For a moment, Adrien thinks he’s turned into a dog, but something about his features say otherwise. He plays around with his retractable claws and toys at his ears, now triangular in shape and pointed upward atop his head.

At least he can now live up to the name of Cat Noir.

The unfortunate decision to walk to school and a poor choice of a hiding spot to transform led to this result. Now he can’t relay any information he knows about the akumatized villain to Ladybug. Worst off, that also means he’s unable to help her.

No matter the villain, exceedingly difficult or exceptionally easy, they always had each other’s back. That sense of reassurance was never an inconvenience. But he still hangs his head in shame, knowing that he was going to have to leave his partner alone to fight by herself this time around.

Adrien arches his back and stretches. The best thing he can do right now is find help. This cat transformation looks like it’s going to last for a while. He lets out an exasperated sigh - or more of a gentle cat sneeze in it’s place. He peers into the sky and sees the sun rise from behind the buildings.

School has probably already started and he contemplates just heading back home to hide in his room, since his father is on another supposed business trip. But there’s a chance Natalie or the Gorilla might immediately toss him out upon finding him. He could make his way to the Collége to find Nino, but cat-distance-wise, it’s much too far. Adrien considers the Dupain-Cheng bakery despite that detail, where Tom and Sabine might be willing to provide some hospitality and he can eventually find Marinette. But then again, getting cat fur over the pastries doesn’t sit well with Adrien so he crosses them off his mental list.

The only person left that he is well-acquainted with is Kagami. Her house is half the distance from his current location to school, so it was worth a shot. He pushes his bookbag and phone behind some thrown-out cardboard boxes in the alleyway before trekking onward.

But with shorter legs, walking distance ends up feeling like a marathon. By the time Adrien reaches the Tsurugi abode, his legs feel like they’re about to fall off. But he forces whatever strength he has left to crawl onto the front steps.

The Tsurugi home was quite possibly the most eccentric in all of Paris. Tomoe Tsurugi herself bought a certain plot of the land upon moving here and had a traditional minka built with walkways and multiple garden sceneries around the perimeter. Inside, it is characterized by several rooms divided by sliding doors, washi paper, and smooth tatami flooring. Adrien has only been here a handful of times since his father and Ms. Tsurugi arrange meetings quite often. It’s got a very different vibe compared to his mansion, but still homey nonetheless.

Weary of any residence, he meows loudly several times to garner some response, but no one comes out. He tries patting around the wooden engawa verdana, while keeping his claws sheathed, as so not to ruin its silk-like texture. No one answers the door, so Adrien curls behind a bush and waits for someone to return. Besides, after a long walk, he could definitely use the time to nap for a few hours or so.

. . . . . . . . . .

Kagami doesn’t arrive home until 6:00 pm that night. The self-driven car, Tatsu, circles the cemented driveway and drops her off before shutting down its engines. Adrien, haven gotten bored of messing with the butterflies and pacing along the walkways, jumps onto the front porch, more than relieved to greet her.

However, as Kagami makes her way toward her home, his delight is replaced with concern. Kagami is texting away at her phone, frowning. In fact, her eyes are glued to the screen so much she nearly trips over Adrien.

“Huh? A cat?” Kagami mumbles, finally putting away her cellular device.

Adrien tries to speak, but the only thing that comes out is a low meow.

“I’ve never seen you before,” Kagami says, “but, excuse me, you’re blocking the door.”

She uses her foot to gently push Adrien aside, and he dramatically falls on his back displaying his soft belly.

“Sorry, but we’re not exactly a cat family,” says Kagami, shuffling through her bookbag to find the house keys. “I think Adrien is more of a cat person. I wouldn’t mind introducing you to him, but… anyways, I’ve got stuff to do.”

Adrien meows in annoyance, tail flicking back and forth.

Kagami rolls her eyes, “Have it your way.” She slides open the door and, Adrien, upon seeing the entrance become wide enough, darts inside.

“Hey!” Kagami yells, “Who said you could come in?!”

Adrien turns back to look at Kagami for a moment, before making himself comfortable in the living room tatami mats.

“What the hell is up with this cat?” Kagami grumbles, chasing after him.

Before Adrien has the chance to curl up into a ball, he feels himself get hoisted into the air. Kagami holds him with both of her hands, keeping the distance between them at arm’s length.

Adrien releases an upset meow and squirms. But with Kagami’s training in fencing, she keeps her grasp firm and continues to make her way towards the door.

“Look, I don’t even know if you have fleas or not,” says Kagami as she sets Adrien down outside on the front porch again. “Besides, I don’t want to have to explain to my mother why there is suddenly cat fur all over the floor.

Adrien tucks his tail between his legs. There’s no doubt Ms. Tsurugi won’t approve of a cat on her lawn and he didn’t want to risk Kagami getting reprimanded either, but he didn’t really have many options available. Kagami squats down and Adrien takes this opportunity to lean his body onto her legs, a low purr escaping his body.

“You’re awfully friendly,” Kagami muses. “More so than most that have come and gone here.”

Before Kagami reaches her hand out to pet Adrien, her cell phone rings. She stands up and digs the device out of her her skirt pocket to answer it.

“Hello?” Kagami asks in a worried tone. “That’s odd. So nothing at all?”

Adrien makes out some faint volume of garbled murmuring from her phone.

“You can’t get a hold of him? You did try calling him, right?”

They were talking about him! Adrien meows, tapping his paws at Kagami’s shoes hoping that she’ll get the idea. But she gently brushes him aside.

“Yeah, we were supposed to have a friendly fencing competition this afternoon,” Kagami sighs, gripping the leather strap of her bookbag. “But no one has seen him since yesterday.”

Kagami’s voice trails off into a whisper, “You don’t think he’s… gone missing?” Feeling guilty for causing her to have such a pained expression, Adrien encircles Kagami’s legs once more, trying to get her attention.

“No, you're right. It's only been a day. Sure, I’ll call you back tomorrow. Thanks, Marinette.” She hangs up the phone and looks down at Adrien.

“Now what should I do with you?”

_Let me stay_, Adrien tries to say, but only another meow escapes his mouth.

“You actually want to stick around?” Kagami snorts. She reaches out and Adrien leans his head into her palm, purring softly. He pushes the entirety of his weight onto Kagami’s legs, tail high in the air.

“…Alright.” Kagami finally says, after petting Adrien’s soft fur. “How about we consider this a trial period?”

Adrien’s ears perk up.

“My mother will definitely forbid it, but I’ve honestly wanted a pet of my own since I was a kid. She’ll be gone for quite a while on her own business, but until then, if you can’t behave yourself, the shelter will be your best bet. Got it?”

Adrien meows happily and follows Kagami inside.

“First things first, hygiene.”

Adrien tails alongside Kagami, following her just to the end of her room. From a glance, it's a simplistic and tidy room, as expected of Kagami. But as she rummages through her belongings, he sees that it is rather disorganized. Tiny boxes hidden in her closet are shoved in the corner floor, and within those boxes are even more objects she’s kept to herself.

_She’s more materialistic than I thought…_ Adrien thinks to himself.

Kagami then pulls out a half-empty bottle of cat shampoo and finds a moderate-sized towel and throws it over her shoulders.

“Come on, kitty-cat, this way.”

She leads them out to the backyard, where a maple tree is centered right in the middle of the garden. Its falling leaves predominantly take up the attention from all the other pine trees. Adrien gazes at each plant, amazed by how well they have been tended to be able to grow this radiantly.

Behind him, he hears Kagami pull out a small plastic tub and yanks a long hose towards her, filling it up.

“It’s not as comfortable as a bathtub, but like I said earlier, I don’t know how dirty you are. So I’ll have to give you a rinse out here.”

Adrien cautiously makes his way into the container, testing the temperature of the water before sitting down, patiently waiting to be cleansed.

“Don’t scratch me now, okay?” Kagami says, popping open the shampoo cap.

. . . . . . . . . .

Adrien shakes his body, fur poofing in all directions. He smiles to himself, reminiscing the past 20 minutes of her soft touch and how respectful she was cleaning near his personal areas.

But he shouldn’t get too carried away yet.

After washing her hands, Kagami grabs her bookbag from the floor and takes out some textbooks and her laptop, settling down on a low table in the living room.

Adrien makes his way towards her, hopping on the table. Maybe he can type out some sort of coherent message?

Unaware, Kagami continues writing her essay. She barely finishes her train of thought when Adrien steps across the keyboard.

“Really?” Kagami says, wrapping her hands around Adrien and dragging him off her laptop, “Out of all the extra space you have to roam around, you choose to bother me when I'm busy working?

Adrien meows, letting his body go deadweight in protest. When she sets him on the ground, he makes yet another attempt to dart back up to the computer. This time, Kagami blocks most of his attempts to paw at several keys, leaving no room for any message to get across. After the fourth or fifth time, Adrien calls it quits and decides to curl underneath the table, letting Kagami’s rhythmic tapping of the keyboard soothe him to sleep.

Knowing Kagami’s sharp-witted nature, Adrien had hoped she would’ve realized sooner who he was. But it looks like he’s got his work cut out for him.

. . . . .

It couldn’t be more than an hour or two before Adrien is woken up by the sound of plates clacking. Once his ears pick up on the noise, his nose is immediately drawn to a rather pleasant smell. He cracks open his eyes, stretches his legs and back, and lets his instincts lead him to the kitchen.

There he finds Kagami standing at the stove, humming softly to some instrumental music playing in the background from her laptop. By the third try, Adrien climbs onto the countertop and can’t help but lick his lips when he sees scrambled eggs cooking between olive oil and pre-fried rice.

“What makes you think this is for you?” Kagami scowls.

Adrien blinks at her, setting his bum onto the countertop and refusing to move.

“Well, maybe not _all_ for you,” Kagami stirs the egg mixture vigorously, “I’m still not done yet, so unless you wanna get burned, I suggest you hang out somewhere else in the meantime."

Adrien answers by lying his entire body on the counter, not taking his eyes off the food for even a second.

“You sure are stubborn…” Kagami sighs, and she goes back to cooking.

It’s interesting to see that Kagami is actually knowledgable in some tasty recipes. When they hang out, it’s usually a nice bubble tea store or lousy takeout. Very rarely do they spend time at a restaurant, since it’s not exactly their money that they’re splurging on either. But it’s not that Adrien was completely ignorant of Kagami’s skills, but rather just being given the opportunity to see her do it for himself.

A part of him wonders what it would be like if Kagami spoiled him like this when he’s in human form.

Kagami flips the ends of the egg batter to cover up the fried rice. She finally turns off the stove and with a spatula, moves the omurice onto a clean plate. She grabs a bottle of ketchup from the cabinet above and carefully writes ねこ on top the omurice, smiling to herself.

“Alright, here you go,” Kagami uses a spoon and slices off a quarter of her meal onto a small dish for Adrien. His ears perk up and he chases after the plate left at the floor for him.

“Don’t get too comfy,” Kagami says, “You’ll be getting regular cat food sooner or later.”

Adrien pouts, but isn’t sure if the expression gets across to her. He gives it a moment before leaning forward to take a bit out of the eggs. Once the flavor spreads across his tongue, it doesn’t take longer than 20 seconds before he gulps down every last grain of rice, and he finds himself staring back up at Kagami.

“Oh no you don’t,” says Kagami as Adrien hops back on top of the dining table, slinking closer to her plate. “You’ve had your share.”

But Adrien persists.

“Meow.”

“No.”

“Meeooww.”

“Nooo.”

“Meeeooowww.”

“Fine, fine!” Kagami grumpily answers between a mouthful of food. “Here.”

She picks off a long, dry end of the egg batter with her fingers. Adrien carefully extracts the piece, making sure not to pierce his sharp teeth against her skin.

“Since you’ve decided to help yourself to almost 1/3 of my dinner, why don’t you take care of the laundry for me? It’s only fair.” Kagami playfully jabs the handle-end of her spoon at Adrien’s stomach.

He meows and paws back, hoping it sounds as thankful as possible.

Kagami gets up from the table, grabbing all the tableware and heads to the sink. Adrien makes his way back to the living room and patiently waits for her to get back.

It’s kind of amusing to see Kagami in a more vulnerable state of emotions, from her frustrations at being unable to understand chemical formulas to her giggling when procrastinating to watch cute animal videos. Adrien has only seen her be serious and professional during their fencing matches, so being able to visualize first-hand anything beyond that was as scarce as finding gold on the sidewalk.

Eventually, Kagami types in the last sentence to her conclusion paragraph and yawns. She stretches her arms and stands up, heading towards the bedroom. Adrien tails along, but immediately pounces out when she starts taking off her white blazer.

The darkest part of Adrien’s mind is tempted to walk back inside. After all, he is just a cat right now and it’s not like Kagami would be too concerned about it. However, violating her privacy like that makes Adrien’s stomach twist, a sinking feeling of immense guilt for even considering it.

A couple of minutes pass before Kagami exits her room, but then she heads for the bathroom. Instead of following, Adrien enters Kagami’s room, this time all the way inside. He jumps onto the bed, giddy when he’s able to do it in one try, and curls up against one of the pillows.

A moment later, Kagami returns, with her hair mildly flattened from the shower and has replaced her school outfit for a thin blouse and sweatpants. Adrien tries not to stare, but it was a rather pleasing sight to see Kagami out of her typical uniform.

“Are you going to steal my bed too?” Kagami says, but in a more lighthearted tone. “Please try not to suffocate me in my sleep.”

Kagami sits on the other side of the bed. She takes out her phone and checks to make sure she’s set her alarm for the next morning. The light makes Adrien perk up, and even more so when he notices that the background photo is of the two of them, representing Collège Françoise Dupont in this year’s fencing tournament that occurred just a few weeks earlier.

Adrien taps at the screen.

“What now?” Kagami asks, and Adrien pads at the phone screen again.

“Yeah, that’s Adrien Agreste. He’s my sparring partner during fencing practice.”

Adrien yowls, frustrated that Kagami isn’t getting the idea.

“Well maybe you can use your mystical cat powers and summon him back.” Kagami dryly says, scratching Adrien behind the ears anyway.

Adrien slinks back into the pillow, letting the rhythmic breathing of Kagami’s inhales and exhales lull him to sleep.

_I hope Ladybug fixes this soon._

* * *

Adrien wakes up to Kagami’s footsteps thumping around the house, getting ready for school. He struggles to open his eyes and lazily stretches, feeling his bones crack. After a few moments, Adrien catches up to Kagami just as she puts on her shoes.

When he tries to follow, Kagami is startled, “Hey hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Adrien stands on his hind legs, using the front ones to cling onto her red skirt.

“I’m not taking you to school with me,” Kagami says, removing Adrien’s claws, “I don’t need anyone else I care about going AWOL.”

Adrien blinks and headbutts into Kagami’s legs.

“I’ll be back later, okay?” She squats down and strokes her hand through his fur. Who would’ve thought that being petted would feel so... nice?

All too quickly, Kagami pulls away, straightening the strap of her bookbag and tucking her phone into her pocket. Then, she shuts and locks the door, leaving Adrien behind to endure another long day alone.

Adrien wanders into the kitchen, wondering if he can somehow open the refrigerator to grab a bite to eat. But thankfully, he finds out he doesn’t need to. At the bottom of the dining table is a small plate of fried fish, with all bones removed and peeled into tiny pieces.

After eating, he feels more keen to explore, but keeps his range within limits. He finds several decent napping spots, one in particular underneath an adorable Japanese wind chime where the sun hits just right and another beside a koi pond, where bumblebees and dragonflies glide above the water.

In the end, there’s no place comparable to that of Kagami’s memory-foam mattress. This time, with better lighting from the sun, Adrien notices a red box shoved underneath her bed, with a strand of tape labeled “Fencing.”

This was unusual. The Tsurugi household has a separate room dedicated to all their fencing competitions. Medals and trophies date back even to Kagami’s grandfather and his championship wins. Tomoe Tsurugi’s photos took up more than half of the table and her daughter’s covering only a mere fraction. So it left Adrien a bit bewildered as to why Kagami would not want to portray her victories openly.

His curiosity gets the better of him and he lifts the top open.

Inside, there are photographs, but not entirely focused on the sport either. Adrien paws through several of them, a few with unfamiliar, distant relatives. But as he rummages further into the box, the pictures become more recognizable and more up-to-date. There’s one photo of Kagami and Marinette going out for some smoothies and another of Kagami sharing her calligraphy skills in art class with Alix and Mylene. Soon, each picture grows in size, from both the number of classmates included and frame dimensions.

Adrien can’t help but smile, proud to see that Kagami has gotten more involved and significantly expanded her friendship circle in such a short amount of time.

Then, he finds the fencing-centric images. Adrien slides through a couple of her matches back in Japan, but soon realizes that the majority of them start to transition towards him and Kagami’s. Sure there are a handful of ones depicting the two of them together during their parents’ meetings or with their teammates, but he doesn’t think he found a single fencing photo without him in it standing next to her.

Adrien recalls the first time he met her, confident and assertive. She wanted the last spot in Mr. D’Argencourt’s fencing team and she certainly fought for it. She’s proven herself numerous times - through victory or defeat - that she was an opponent worth challenging and a sparring partner worth having.

But it also occurs to Adrien that, right now, Kagami thinks he’s gone missing. Being turned into a cat is one thing, but from Kagami’s perspective, to have a friend suddenly vanish off the face of the Earth would be nothing short of terrifying, especially with no prior notice whatsoever.

_Did I ever give her my number?…_ Adrien thinks.

. . . . . . . . . .

Kagami arrives home, abeit later than last time.

Adrien jumps from the mattress the moment he hears the key turn in the lock and the door slides open. His impatience brewing, he would have hastily demanded where Kagami had been nearly all day until he saw how distraught she looked.

“You went to his house? What did they say?” Kagami throws her bookbag onto the nearest chair, letting it sag into a putty mess.

“They… don’t know?” Kagami rolls her eyes, pacing the room. “What, is Gabriel Agreste’s business more important than his son’s own well-being that he doesn’t even bother to call back and check in?”

Adrien paces back and forth along the hall with Kagami, trying to find a way to lean against her and soothe her frantic state. While it shocked him a bit to hear someone talk about his father in such a way, he can’t help but nod his head in agreement to that statement.

“Yeah, I went and double-checked all of our usual hang-out spots, but none of the employees have seen him either. It’s like he just disappeared.”

Kagami takes off her shoes and sets them neatly in the hallway.

“What?! Other people have… disappeared too? Do you think... an akuma might be behind all this?”

Incoherent blabbering is heard from the other end of the phone. Adrien meows loudly, but Kagami continues to ignore him.

“I’m… sorry I couldn’t come with you, Marinette,” Kagami sighs, finally settling down on the living room couch. “Maybe Nathalie and the Gorilla would’ve been less ill-tempered if I had tagged along.”

The voice on the other end seems to have cooled down, speaking in a slower and calmer manner.

“Yeah, I promise I’ll call you back if I find anything,” Kagami ends the call and tosses her phone aside, leaning back onto the couch and groaning into her palms.

Adrien climbs onto her lap and massages her stomach. This time, Kagami actually peeks at him from behind her hands. She quickly scoops him up into her arms and buries her face into his fur. Adrien momentarily struggles to compose himself at how extremely close they are.

“When Adrien comes back, I want you to nail some sense into that boy's head. Maybe you can get through that thick skull of his better than I can.”

Adrien melts into Kagami’s hug. While he is partially at fault for causing her distress, the chances of having the two of them taken under the powers of the akumatized villain would leave Adrien even more guilt-ridden. He considers worming out of her grasp after a short while, but decides against it. The least he can do right now is give Kagami some comfort.

No sooner than later, she passes out from exhaustion. Her body slowly falls and takes up the entirety of the long couch. Adrien readjusts his body, still keeping it between Kagami’s arms. He inches closer to Kagami’s face and the heat radiating from it, purring softly. If only he was able to get this close to her in person.

. . . . .

Eventually, Adrien wakes up again when Kagami abruptly shifts her weight from the couch to sit upright. Her hair is tangled and messy and her eyes are still heavy from napping.

Adrien grabs her attention by bumping his head into her hand, and she reaches out to scratch him behind the ears.

“You know what, forget homework. I’ll deal with it tomorrow morning. Let’s just go back to sleep.”

Kagami stands up, holding the black cat in one arm and yawns while stretching the other. She carries Adrien to her bedroom and that’s when it hits him.

The moment she places him on the mattress, Adrien hops to the floor and crawls underneath the bed.

“What are you doing?” Kagami crouches down on the floor, “The bed is up here.”

Adrien disregards her and continues to seek out the red box. When he manages to push it out, he tips the entire thing over with force, spilling out multiple photos left and right. He paws at the first picture of himself that he sees.

“Knock it off,” Kagami says in a crabby tone, “You’re not allowed to play with these.”

Adrien lets out a frustrated yowl.

“Don’t test me,” Kagami fires back, “Try that again and you’re off to the shelter tomorrow morning. These pictures mean a lot to me and I won’t have you soiling Adrien’s most handsome photograph.”

Adrien stares, ears perking up at what she just said.

“It’s annoying as hell,” Kagami looks down at the picture. “For a celebrity who’s admired by many, he’s as blind as a bat. What does he want me to do? Smack him in the head with my sabre? He can’t even see that my feelings for him go beyond his modeling career.”

Adrien is slightly irked at her statement, but brushes them aside after hearing that last sentence. If Adrien was human, he’d be gaping right about now.

The picture in her hand was the most recent photo of them that they took together. It is the exact same one that Kagami set as her phone’s background, their previous tournament victory. To be honest, Adrien seemed a bit awkward in the photo, he was bashfully holding up a gold medal and Kagami was next to him holding a silver. It was meant to be just the two of them, but their teammates were so high from the excitement that they photobombed the whole thing at the last second, making it difficult for the photographer to get a clean shot.

But if Kagami still found that picture of him attractive, then she must be smitten with him to some degree.

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Kagami throws the photo back into the box and collects the rest of them, “it’s sleep time. Weren’t you tired just a moment ago?”

She doesn’t let him answer, but it’s not like Adrien could come up with anything anyways. His head is still in disarray from Kagami's blunt love confession.

Kagami quickly washes up in the bathroom and doesn’t even bother to change when she comes back out. She slams her body onto the bed, still in school uniform, and Adrien presses closer to the soft fabric her blazer.

“Don’t walk all over my face now...” Kagami murmurs, gradually falling asleep.

. . . . . . . . . .

When Adrien wakes up the next morning, Kagami’s shriek has him falling off the edge of the bed.

“A-Adrien?! What?!- How?-“ Kagami sputters, her face going bright red, “Why are you in my room?!”

Adrien is too confused himself to answer. He pads his body in a panic, realizing his arms and legs have materialized. All his clothes are still intact, his bookbag is right on the floor and his phone is in his pocket. Which means… Ladybug must have captured the akuma and restored everything!

“Kagami, this-“

“What- what are you doing here?!” Kagami stammers, still recovering from shock. “And where’s my cat?”

“It’s me, Kagami,” says Adrien.

“What are you talking about?”

“I was the cat.”

Kagami’s eyes widen, but before she could say anything else, the sound of a door unlocks and a voice calls out, “Kagami?”

Alarmed, Kagami forcibly shoves Adrien under her bed. “Keep quiet and don’t make any sudden noises,” she hisses.

Kagami immediately dashes out of her room. “Welcome home, mother. How was your business trip?”

“Forget about my business trip. Do you know what time it is?” Ms. Tsurugi cuts her daughter off abruptly. “You only have 20 minutes left before school starts and you’re still in bed?”

Adrien peeks out from under the bed and scans the clock in Kagami’s room. His heart rate picks up speed when he sees the time. He slowly gets out and escapes using the closest window. He leaves it only partially open, hoping Kagami will get the hint.

“I- No, mother. I was just about to leave.” Adrien hears from behind, “We can discuss more afterwards.”

In the blink of an eye, Kagami rushes back into her room to freshen up. Upon seeing the window, she quickly straightens her clothes and grabs her things. Making her way out to the cemented driveway, Adrien cautiously waves to her from behind the self-driven car.

“Tatsu, take me to Collége Françoise Dupont.”

_Very well, Ms. Tsurugi._

. . . . .

The drive to school is painfully silent.

They sit next to each other in the backseat. Kagami pulls out her math homework and briefly skims through the problems, with the hum of the car’s engine somewhat mediating the uncomfortable atmosphere between them.

When she finishes a set of problems, she finally speaks, “So. You were the cat?”

“Yeah,” Adrien timidly brushes a hand over his hair, “I tried to tell you.”

“Hmm, that explains alot,” Kagami says, flipping her the textbook over to the next page. “Sticking around, the laptop, and the photos…”

There’s another long pause of silence. The sound of Kagami scribbling in her notebook without so much as a glance toward Adrien makes it a tad bit difficult for him to remain calm.

“Did you actually understand everything I said?” Kagami asks, trying to sound casual, but there’s some sense of faltering in her tone.

“I-“ Adrien starts, but Kagami is too busy rambling on to let him get a word in.

“Because you weren’t supposed to hear any of that,” she continues, “at least not that this point in time. Maybe we should just forget this ever happened?-“

“Kagami,” Adrien cuts in her mild babbling, “can we pull over for a minute?”

Kagami looks like she got punch in the gut, but she agrees to his request and orders her car to do so.

Adrien takes a deep breath right before the car is put into park, then leans over his seat and kisses her.

Kagami is taken aback for a moment, her hand gripping tightly into her notebook, but soon relaxes into the kiss. She lets the school supplies fall off her lap and places her free hand on Adrien’s cheek, pulling him in closer for another moment of lip contact. After a few more seconds, they reluctantly break away before they get too caught up in each other.

Adrien smiles at her, “If I’m as blind as a bat, then I think I should get my eyes checked.”

Kagami blushes, her expression partially dazed. “Took you long enough."

“I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble,” Adrien sighs, “I didn’t know where else to go.”

That wasn’t entirely true, but it still pains him to think about Kagami getting upset over his unexpected disappearance.

“Why didn’t you go back home? Or even to school to find Nino? Or Marinette?” Kagami asks.

“There were some inconveniences I considered from all parties involved,” Adrien frowns, “But I also don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t have gone to you. I figured someone of your keen intellect would have been able to put the pieces together much faster.”

“Can you really blame me when stray cats frequently come and go to my place?” Kagami snorts, “And speaking of Marinette…”

She unlocks her phone and calls her friend using Facetime, and Marinette answers in less than two rings.

“Kagami!” Marinette shouts from behind the screen, “Is everything okay? Have you found Adrien yet?”

“Yeah, he’s right here with me,” Kagami says, turning the phone in Adrien’s direction and he waves back, easing Marinette’s concern.

“Oh, that’s good!” Marinette puts a hand on her chest, her breathing becoming more evenly paced.

“Are you okay?” Adrien asks, “You look really tired.”

Marinette’s eyes widen, “Oh, no, I’m fine! The whole people-disappearing-randomly thing was just a tough situation to grasp for the past few days, you know?”

“Didn't Cat Noir go missing too?” Adrien asks, “Did Ladybug have any trouble without him?”

“Nope!” Alya suddenly chimes in from behind with Nino right beside her, “You two should check out some of the stuff on my LadyBlog! She had help from Rena Rouge and Carapace and they got some pretty good screen time.”

“Do you guys know why people were suddenly disappearing?” asks Kagami.

“Yeah,” Nino answers, “According to TVi news, it was some 10-year old kid who got akumatized because her parents wouldn’t get her a pet for her birthday. Things went downhill from there. It was just extremely bad luck that the Hawkmoth dude used that negative energy to his advantage.”

“This obviously isn’t the first time,” Adrien huffs, “Manipulating a kid to do his dirty work is outright cruel.”

We’ll be sure check out more of the details on the LadyBlog later today,” says Kagami, nodding in agreement.

“But since Ladybug fixed everything,” Marinette adds, “I’m sure things are back to normal now and Cat Noir can get back to doing some superhero work again with his partner-in-crime.”

Adrien does his best to hide his smile.

“Okay, well, we gotta go now!” Marinette waves, “We’ll see you guys in a bit!”

The call ends and Kagami’s hand goes limp, but still grips the phone in her hand.

“Looks like you weren’t the only one who wanted an animal companion,” Adrien says, turning to Kagami. “They do take a lot of work to care for.”

“I don’t mind keeping one myself if they’re tame and willing to put up with my antics,” Kagami snickers.

Adrien intertwines one hand with Kagami’s, “But if a random black cat shows up on your doorstep again?”

“I’m not sure about that one,” Kagami smirks, handing him her phone, “Maybe his number and a prior notice beforehand would help.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!~ <3
> 
> Apparently, black cats are a sign of good luck in Japan!~  
I hear too often that they're regarded as a bad omen and misfortune, so this was a nice piece of information to learn. ^_^
> 
> Tumblr: [HaruHara16](http://haruhara16.tumblr.com)  



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